Product Description

Tarchna, 6th century B.C. During Tagete's day, the Etruscan community celebrates its own mythical father, and the oracles faithful to Achvizr, Alpan, Leinth and Thalna begin their purification path. They hope to honor their divinity through several sacrifices, escaping the call of the Ancient Tuchulcha, a sound that can be so loud that it threatens any other voice. Who will be dedicated to Lasa Vecuvia, the eternal Tuchulcha's rival, to bring peace back on the path to Tarchna?

Product Information

Language Requirements:
Game components are language-independent.
Manufacturer's rules are printed in multiple languages (including English).
This is an international edition or domestic edition of an imported item.

Contents:

1 double-sided gameboard

36 haruspexes

4 seals

4 dice

rules

Game Errata:

At the top of the second page of the English rules, the sentence, "Questo è il cammino che devono fare gli aruspici blu," was not translated. It translates as, "This is the route that the blue haruspexes must take."

Product Reviews

I often ask people their opinions on the importance
of theme in a game. For some, it doesn’t matter;
but most feel that theme is extremely important to
the success of a game, and I am in whole-hearted
agreement. I don’t mind an abstract game with a
good theme “pasted on”, and would rather play it
than a simple abstract game with no theme. But
every once in a while, a theme is actually
detrimental to a game - actually subtracting from
the fun factor of the game.

Now, I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have enjoyed
Tuchulcha regardless of the theme. The game is simply a
Parcheesi game with some twists, and I despise
Parcheesi. But the theme of the game, the
Etruscan Haruspexes, really threw off the entire
game for me. Terms like “haruspexes”,
“Velthumena”, etc., really threw me off. I had to
read the rules three times to understand the game,
and when explaining it, ignored the theme
entirely. This confusion, coupled with a mediocre
game (in my opinion) gave me a rather low opinion
of Tuchulcha. It’s a classic example of a
mismatched theme actually ruining a game.

Each player takes eight “haruspexes” (pawns) of
their color and places them on a temple of a
divinity. Each temple is next to a specific spot
on a purification path that winds in a circular
manner around the board. The goal of players is
to get all of their pawns to the central spot of
the board (the Velthumena altar). One player
starts the game, with play proceeding clockwise
around the table. On a turn, players roll two
six-sided dice; if they roll doubles, they may
roll an additional die. Players must use the
numbers rolled exactly, moving the same pawn more
than once, or two different pawns. Players move
their pawns that many spaces and may pass over
other pawns, if they can. Pawns may have as many
pawns of their own color on any space, but may NOT
land a pawn of another player, unless the player
can match the “spiritual power” of the pawn there.
Most spaces give a pawn a power of one, while
some double the power, and a few spaces (“Mystical
stones”) triple the power. Therefore, two pawns
on a mystical stone have a total power of six.
Pawns on a mystical stone can pretty much never be
captured, but a player must move them off the
stone as soon as they can. If a player lands
pawn(s) equal in power to the pawn(s) on the
stone, then the pawn(s) landed on are sent the
forest of Tuchulcha (the dead zone). A pawn that
“kills” another pawn must stop moving. Four
spaces on the board (passages) cause a pawn that
lands on them to immediately die. When a pawn
completely rounds the board, they enter into the
central space (exact roll is NOT needed), and are
safe and can no longer move.

If a player wants to, they may “devote their
pawns to Tuchulcha” - changing their role in the
game. Any player may do this (only one, however),
and must sacrifice three of their pawns to the
temple (they may come from the forest, the altar,
or the player’s temple). From this point onward,
the Tuchulcha player’s pawns are invulnerable, do
not have to stop when killing another pawn, and
allow the player to roll four dice (using the best
three.) The Tuchulcha player’s goal is to kill
all remaining haruspexes of the other players. If
one player gets one more pawn into the center
altar, the Tuchulcha player loses - they can only
win if they kill all other players.

If one player chooses the role of Tuchulcha,
another player may then take on the role of Lasa
Vecuvia. This player must still have four pawns
in play and takes four “seals” that are included
with the game. The player must attempt to land
one of their pawns on one of the “passages”,
placing one of the seals on it, and discarding the
pawn. If the Lasa Vecuvia player manages to seal
all four passages, then they win (even if the
Tuchulcha player has lost). Lasa Vecuvia pawns
can only be killed by Tuchulcha pawns, and cannot
kill other pawns (skipping them instead).

When the four passages are sealed, or the
Tuchulcha player kills all other pawns, or when an
ordinary player gets all of their remaining pawns
to the center, then the game is over. In case of
a tie, the player with the fewest dead haruspexes
is the winner! In a three-player game, the
opposite side of the board is used (set up for
three players), and no player can pick Lasa
Vecuvia. In a two-player game, the other two
players are “neutral”, and either player can move
them.

1.) Components: The pieces of the game are of
very good quality - the pawns are high quality
wooden pawns (they look rather austere). The
seals are large gray wooden discs, and four nice
wooden dice with rounded corners (my favorite) are
included. The board is quite beautiful, with nice
pictures of a path throughout a forest and
meadows. The thing still looks rather abstract,
but in a nice way, I suppose. The different
temples, passages, mystical stones, etc., are
marked by mysterious symbols, and everything fits
into a medium sized box (Carcassonne size), with
some rather odd artwork.

2.) Rules: I’ve already complained about the
rules to a degree in my opening statements. There
are a lot of examples and illustrations on the
six-page fold out, which is good, because the
rules themselves, with all the lengthy jargon,
didn’t make much sense to me. A page of lore
about the Etruscan Haruspexes is included (which I
found the opposite of interesting.) When I
ignored the gobbledygook, the game was actually
fairly easy to explain, although the two special
roles were a little tricky for new players to
understand.

3.) Parcheesi: The game is very similar to
Parcheesi, although I’m sure game enthusiasts
would gladly point out the differences. But the
game has the same feel for me, which is one of
“bleach”. If you enjoy Parcheesi, than this might
be the perfect game for you. I’m not a big fan of
moving pawns around a track, trying to land on
other pawns. That’s been done to death (Trouble,
Sorry!, etc.)

4.) Tuchulcha: I will state that the two roles
included in the game are extremely interesting,
although it’s rarely in a player’s best interest
to take Tuchulcha. Sure, it’s a nice thing to do
if you are losing the game by a wide margin, but
because it’s the most interesting and unique part
of the game, it really should be more common. I
like the Lasa Vecuvia role, but it’s only
available in a four-player game; therefore, two or
three player games are just not worth it to me.

5.) Players: As I just said, the game plays best
with four players. However, a two-player game has
a smidgen of interest, because players can move
the neutral pawns. But I found that the game
became just a simple, “make the best move now”
type of game, and the fate of the game came down
to the roll of a die.

6.) Fun Factor: I love rolling dice, and the
excitement in a game of Can’t Stop or Memoir’ 44
can get intense - with everyone focusing on an
exhilarating die roll. The rolls in this game
aren’t the same and can actually border on tedium,
sometimes. When you NEVER get doubles or
continually roll the numbers you don’t need, the
game can be quite annoying (as has happened to
me). Couple in a unique, uninspiring theme, and
the game just did nothing for me. I’d almost
rather play Sorry! - it’s a bit more exciting.

I hate to pan a game from daVinci, as most of
their games I’ve really enjoyed. But this one
went over like a lead balloon for me, and multiple
games did nothing to increase my interest. Maybe
it was the Parcheesi-type game play, which I
abhor, or the terrible theme - but either way,
it’s not a game I can recommend unless you like
“roll the dice and move your pawns” type games and
want one with a different twist. As for me, I
want to play a game whose theme I can understand.

Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”

Other Resources for Tuchulcha:

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